7 Landmark Performances by Jean-Pierre Léaud
A tribute to an icon of the French New Wave. From "The 400 Blows" to "The Birth of Love," here is a list of seven roles that shaped Léaud's career.
With the 69th Cannes Film Festival just around the corner (May 11-May 22), comes the news that French actor Jean-Pierre Léaud will be receiving an honorary Palme d'Or during its closing ceremony. The award comes in recognition of one of the most impressive careers of any actor in the history of French cinema, as well as of course, cinema in general.
His very image, along with those of Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina, is one of the most representative of the revolutionary cinematic movement known as the French New Wave. Indeed, he juxtaopsed significantly the unflinching machismo of Belmondo with a more restrained and, at times, vain brand of sensibility, that would add a fascinating charisma and depth to many of some of the most memorable characters of the French (and European in general) cinema of the sixties and seventies - not least of all the ongoing collaboration with Truffaut on their creation of Antoine Doinel, first introduced in that masterwork The 400 Blows (1959).
Given the significance of the award, it feels right to pay tribute to Léaud's film by shining a light on some of his most memorable works to date. We have chosen 7 of his finest performances to highlight - which might have been more had we decided to go ahead and quite every one of his lead turns in his collaborations with Truffaut and Godard (instead, we only made one, meaningful exception). And we recommend that every one of these titles, which span from a period of time between 1959 and 1991, be researched and discovered, or re-discovered, as soon as possible.